The next morning, Alex was still sleeping when Lily bounded into their bedroom. She wrinkled her nose when she saw her mothers sleeping on the floor and situated herself between them. "Momma," she whispered, shaking Olivia awake.

"Shh, baby. Don't wake Mommy. What is it?"

"I'm late for school."

Olivia sighed. "You're not going to school today, Lil."

"How come?"

"Because I thought we would go down to the station and I could introduce you to some of my friends. Elliot will be there, but I don't think you've met Munch or Fin?"

"Munch?"

"That's one of my friends' names. John Munch."

Lily giggled. "If he had kids, they'd be munchies! Or munchkins. Like in The Wizard Of Oz."

Olivia smiled. "That's right. So are you game?"

Lily beamed. "I'm game." Then her brow creased. "Is Mommy coming?"

"Do you want her to?"

"I don't want to leave her by herself. She'll be lonely."

Olivia smiled sadly. Lily was such a sweet kid. "Sweetie, don't worry about Mommy. Do you want to spend the day just the two of us or do you want me to ask Mommy if she wants to come with?"

"Ask Mommy."

"Okay. Why don't we have some breakfast and then we'll wake up Mommy and ask her if she wants to come?"

"Momma, how come you and Mommy are sleeping on the floor?"

"We're having a sleepover, Lil. Maybe sometime you can invite Lydia over and you guys can have a sleepover, too." Then Olivia winced, remembering the previous day. No, they weren't going to be having a sleepover with Lydia anytime soon.

"Momma? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, baby." Olivia slipped her hand into Lily's. "Ready to go eat?"

After they finished breakfast, Lily brought Alex a bowl of cereal and a banana on a tray. She carried it carefully into the master bedroom and sat down beside Alex. "Mommy, I made you breakfast. Well, Momma helped, too."

Alex flinched at the sound of Lily's voice, but once she recognized it as her daughter's, she opened her eyes and tried to smile. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Lily lay down beside Alex and wrapped her arms around her. "I love you, Mommy."

"Oh, baby, I love you, too. Always."

Lily curled up against Alex's side. "Momma says she's gonna take me to her work today. Wanna come?"

"I don't think so, baby. You have your day with Momma. I'll just stay here."

"Then maybe I'll stay here, too. I don't want you to be lonely."

"I won't be lonely, sweetheart. Don't worry about me. You have a nice day with Momma."

"But Mommy, I want to be with you." Lily's face fell as something occurred to her. "Don't you want to be with me?"

"Of course I do, baby. But I'm not feeling so well today."

"I'm sorry for making you not feel well, Mommy. I didn't mean to –"

"Lily, it's not your fault I'm not feeling well. I just have a headache this morning, okay? Remember how I have headaches sometimes?"

Lily's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No, you didn't have a headache since we were with the man! Mommy, I didn't mean to be like the man! I'm sorry!"

"Sweetheart, no. It's not your fault. I know you're not like the man. Sometimes adults just have headaches sometimes, like you sometimes have stomachaches. It's okay, Lily. You go and have your day with Momma."

Lily hung her head. "Okay," she whispered.

"Lily, I still love you," Alex said, holding Lily close. "I just really have a headache this morning."

Lily sniffled. "'Kay. I love you, too, Mommy."

Olivia came into the room a moment later and smiled when she found her girls curled up together. "Hey, baby," she said to Alex, kneeling beside her and leaning down to kiss her cheek. "You coming with us today?"

Alex shook her head. "Not today, Liv."

"Okay, sweetie. Lily and I are going to go in a minute, but you can call me if you need anything and I'll come right home."

Alex nodded. "Okay, Liv. I'm fine. You go with Lily."

Olivia held her hand out to Lily. "Ready to go, Lil?"

Lily glanced at Alex one last time before taking Olivia's hand. "Yeah."

Lily clung to Olivia's hand as they walked toward the police station. "Momma, is this your work?"

"Yeah, baby. This is where I work."

"There's so many people."

"Yeah, there are." Olivia steered Lily toward her own desk. "This is my desk."

Lily beamed and pointed to a picture frame on the desk. "Look, Momma! There's me and Mommy!"

"Yup. So I can always have you with me even when I'm not with you." Olivia pointed across the room. "There are John and Fin. Do you want to come say hi to them."

Lily nodded and skipped across the room with Olivia, but she hid behind her mother's leg when they got closer.

"Hey, guys," Olivia said to them.

They smiled at her. "And is this beautiful young lady the infamous Lily?" John asked, kneeling so he was eye level with Lily.

Lily smiled shyly. "Momma, what's infamous?"

"Well-known. It's because I talk about you all the time," Olivia explained. "This is John and that's Fin. They're my friends."

Lily peeked at John. "Are you Mommy's friend, too?"

"Yes, I am your mommy's friend too," John said.

Lily held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you," she said politely.

John chuckled. "Hey, you and Cabot have done well, Liv."

Olivia swelled with pride. "Can you say hi to Fin, too, Lily?"

Lily held her hand out to Fin. "Nice to meet you, too."

Olivia smiled at her. "Good girl."

"Momma –" Lily held out her arms and Olivia lifted her daughter onto her hip.

"Yeah, baby?"

Lily rested her head on Olivia's shoulder. "Just wanted you to carry me."

"Well, seems like you've got your wish."

Lily giggled. "You have nice friends, Momma."

Olivia shifted Lily on her hip. "Yeah, I do."

"And they're Mommy's friends, too."

"That's right. Everyone here loves Mommy."

"As much as we do?"

"It's a different kind of love, baby. Just like you love Dickie and Lizzie differently than you love Mommy and me."

"Yeah, 'cause you're my Momma. You're my only momma and Mommy's my only mommy."

Olivia smiled. "That's right."

They went to say hello to Captain Cragen, and Lily repeated her "nice to meet you" routine, which earned a nod of approval from the captain. Then suddenly, she went still and started to tremble. "Momma, I want to go home."

Olivia was immediately on alert. "What's wrong, baby?"

"He's going to hurt Mommy," she whispered, wrapping her arms around Olivia's legs. "Don't let him hurt Mommy!"

"Who, baby? Captain Cragen isn't going to hurt Mommy. He's Mommy's friend, remember?"

"No –" Lily pointed at a men Elliot was leading into the station, his hands cuffed behind his back. She began to cry. "Don't let him hurt Mommy!"

Then it occurred to Olivia. The man must look like the man who had hurt her girls so badly. "Baby, that's not the man. He's a different man, I promise."

"No, Momma –"

Olivia sighed and lifted Lily up again. "I think it's time to go," she said quietly to the captain.

He nodded. "I'll see you later, Olivia. Don't rush to come back. Take care of your family first."

Olivia smiled weakly. "I know." She rubbed Lily's back. "It's okay, baby. We're leaving."

Lily kept crying as Olivia buckled her into her car seat and drove home. "Mommy, Mommy," she kept saying.

"Lily, Mommy's fine, I promise," Olivia tried to assure her, but Lily wasn't listening.

When they got home, Lily immediately ran into the master bedroom and jumped into Alex's arms. Her cries intensified when she reached her mother, and it wasn't until Olivia came into the bedroom herself that she realized why.

Alex's beautiful blonde hair had been crudely shorn and her face was wet with tears. She clung to her daughter, both of them crying in each other's arms.

"Alex, what did you do?" The words were out of her mouth before she could help them, and Alex began to tremble.

"Lily, go to your room for a few minutes," Olivia said as calmly as she could. "Mommy's fine. I'll be there in a moment."

"No, the man –"

"Lily, go."

Lily let go of Alex and scampered toward her room.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Olivia asked, turning her attention to the sobbing woman standing in front of her. "What is it, baby? Talk to me?"

Alex shook her head and leaned back against Olivia, burying her face in the detective's shoulder.

"Okay, baby. It's okay." Olivia held her tightly. "Breathe for me, Alex. Just breathe."

Alex sank into her, continuing to sob in Olivia's embrace. Olivia held her, rubbing comforting circles into her back until she finally calmed.

"Sweetheart," she asked once she felt Alex's body relax. "What happened?"

Alex nodded. "I'm sorry, ma'am," she whispered, leaning closer to Olivia.

Olivia sighed. "Alex, what's wrong?"

"I had to be – I had to be punished." Alex began to cry again. "I'm sorry, ma'am! I know I – I scared Lily and I – I'm sorry! Don't be angry, please."

Olivia held her close. "Sweetheart, I'm not mad at you. I'm really not. I'm just . . . concerned. That's all."

"I – my master – he made me – he made me cut my hair. Or he – he cut it for me. That was – it was horrible. I used to – I used to –" She smiled weakly. "I used to run my fingers through my hair and pretend it was you."

Olivia smiled back and hugged Alex more tightly. "You don't need to be punished, baby. I don't want you to hurt yourself. I never, ever want to see you in pain."

Alex ducked her head in shame and curled further into Olivia.

Olivia gently stroked Alex's cheek. "I can make you an appointment at the hairdresser's to get your hair evened out tomorrow, baby."

Alex shook her head. "Leave it," she said softly.

"No, sweetie. No." She knew that Alex was trying to punish herself, again, and that made her heart ache. "You don't need to be punished, baby, not at all. Not ever."

Alex raised her head. "I'm even uglier now," she said, with something that sounded almost like satisfaction creeping into her voice.

"No, Alex. You're not ugly, not at all. I just know that the man who hurt you made you keep your hair like this, and I know you don't like it. That's all. You hurt yourself, baby, and that makes me very, very sad."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't – I didn't mean to upset you."

"Oh, Alex." Olivia held her closer, wondering how things had gotten so bad so quickly.

Review for chapter sixty-three!